Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Scott Colom said Thursday he accepted invitations from two TV stations to debate and challenged Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith to join him.
Flanked by a staffer in an inflatable chicken outfit, Colom told reporters he sent Hyde-Smith’s campaign an invitation to debate before the Nov. 3 general election. In a letter sent to the Republican’s campaign, Colom asked her to respond by Friday.
“She’s chicken!” Colom said of Hyde-Smith at the press conference.
Jake Monssen, Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, said in a statement that “losing candidates always want to debate about debates” and that there was “no point in debating someone so out of touch with Mississippi that he advocates for the sex change surgeries for children.”
“Mississippians are not confused about this race,” Monssen said. “Cindy Hyde-Smith has spent years delivering real results and defending our values. Scott Colom is bankrolled by billionaire George Soros, ActBlue, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, and he is beholden to their far-left agenda.”
Monssen’s statement about children refers to a letter Colom, a district attorney in northern Mississippi, signed in 2021 where he condemned the criminalization of gender-affirming care and said families of trans youth should not be prosecuted.
Colom has said that he has never supported gender-affirming surgeries for children and that he does not believe trans athletes should compete in women’s’ sports.
If Hyde-Smith doesn’t agree to debate Colom, it’s unclear if the TV stations would proceed with Colom talking about his platform. It’s also unclear if Ty Pinkins, an independent candidate, was invited to participate in the debate.
Hyde-Smith participated in a 2018 debate during a special election runoff with opponent Mike Espy. She did not debate Espy two years later when she ran for her first full six-year term, and it appears she doesn’t plan to debate this year.
Hyde-Smith has a long history of not doing off-the-cuff events or open town hall meetings and rarely does interviews with the media. Some constituents have complained about a lack of access to her or response from her.
Last year, Mississippi Today tried to interview Hyde-Smith at the Capitol to ask her about budget cuts President Donald Trump’s administration was making and how they would impact her home state and about Mississippi’s infamous welfare scandal.
When asked if she had time to answer a few questions, she curtly responded, “No.”
After the Washington trip, Mississippi Today emailed her spokesperson asking if she was satisfied with the investigation into the federal welfare scandal that has rocked Mississippi’s politics and caused several people to plead guilty to federal crimes.
Her office did not respond to the question, which made her the only member of Mississippi’s congressional delegation to either not respond to the question or not grant Mississippi Today an interview.
Colom, Hyde-Smith and Pinkins will compete in the general election on Nov. 3. The last day citizens can register to vote is Oct. 9.
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